Leaders & Notable People
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Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse
"A vivid portrait of America's greatest stallion, the larger-than-life men who raced and bred him, and the dramatic times in which they lived."-Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse
The powerful true story of the champion Thoroughbred racehorse who gained international fame in the tumultuous Civil War–era South, and became the most successful sire in American racing history
The early days of American horse racing were grueling. Four-mile races, run two or three times in succession, were the norm, rewarding horses who brandished the ideal combination of stamina and speed. The stallion Lexington, named after the city in Kentucky where he was born, possessed these winning qualities, which pioneering Americans prized.
Lexington shattered the world speed record for a four-mile race, showing a war-torn nation that the extraordinary was possible even in those perilous times. He would continue his winning career until deteriorating eyesight forced his retirement in 1855. But once his groundbreaking achievements as a racehorse ended, his role as a sire began. Horses from his bloodline won more money than the offspring of any other Thoroughbred-an annual success that led Lexington to be named America's leading sire an unprecedented sixteen times.
Yet with the Civil War raging, Lexington's years at a Kentucky stud farm were far from idyllic. Confederate soldiers ran amok, looting freely and kidnapping horses from the top stables. They soon focused on the prized Lexington and his valuable progeny.
Kim Wickens, a lawyer and dressage rider, became fascinated by this legendary horse when she learned that twelve of Thoroughbred racing's thirteen Triple Crown winners descended from Lexington. Wickens spent years meticulously researching the horse and his legacy-and with Lexington, she presents an absorbing, exciting account that transports readers back to the raucous beginning of American horse racing and introduces them to the stallion at its heart.
The powerful true story of the champion Thoroughbred racehorse who gained international fame in the tumultuous Civil War–era South, and became the most successful sire in American racing history
The early days of American horse racing were grueling. Four-mile races, run two or three times in succession, were the norm, rewarding horses who brandished the ideal combination of stamina and speed. The stallion Lexington, named after the city in Kentucky where he was born, possessed these winning qualities, which pioneering Americans prized.
Lexington shattered the world speed record for a four-mile race, showing a war-torn nation that the extraordinary was possible even in those perilous times. He would continue his winning career until deteriorating eyesight forced his retirement in 1855. But once his groundbreaking achievements as a racehorse ended, his role as a sire began. Horses from his bloodline won more money than the offspring of any other Thoroughbred-an annual success that led Lexington to be named America's leading sire an unprecedented sixteen times.
Yet with the Civil War raging, Lexington's years at a Kentucky stud farm were far from idyllic. Confederate soldiers ran amok, looting freely and kidnapping horses from the top stables. They soon focused on the prized Lexington and his valuable progeny.
Kim Wickens, a lawyer and dressage rider, became fascinated by this legendary horse when she learned that twelve of Thoroughbred racing's thirteen Triple Crown winners descended from Lexington. Wickens spent years meticulously researching the horse and his legacy-and with Lexington, she presents an absorbing, exciting account that transports readers back to the raucous beginning of American horse racing and introduces them to the stallion at its heart.
Editorial Reviews
"This incredible-but-true story barrels along at a Thoroughbred's gallop. Wickens brings to life the courageous stallion Lexington and the indelible imprint he left on the American Thoroughbred breed."-Elizabeth Letts, author of The Perfect Horse
"Best Racehorse Book Ever. . . a First-Place Blue-Ribbon of a book, full of engrossing, surprising, and sometimes startling detail about how American horse racing got its start . . . a must-have classic for every equestrian's shelf."-Wendy Williams, author of The Horse
"In this meticulously researched and skillfully drawn telling, Kim Wickens brings to vivid life the ‘forgotten horse': Lexington. It defies belief that no book has ever been written on this near-blind Thoroughbred who left such an indelible mark on nineteenth-century horse racing."-Lawrence Scanlan, author of The Horse God Built
"Kim Wickens's deep and indefatigable research provides a knowledge akin to a master's degree. And her compelling writing style renders the acquisition of knowledge a personal pleasure."-Edward L. Bowen, racing journalist and author of The Lucky Thirteen
"If you want to know why horse racing was America's first sport, it's all here. At the center of it is a racehorse named Lexington, an unlikely cornerstone for America's modern Thoroughbred breeding industry."-Joe Drape, author of American Pharoah
"A totally engrossing story of one of the greatest horses that ever lived . . . I loved it."-Nacho Figueras, champion polo player and co-author of High Season
"In this colorful debut biography, equestrian Wickens relates the life and legacy of the eponymous equine, who was foaled near his namesake city in Kentucky in 1850. Lovers of both history and horses will take enjoyment from this thoroughly told tale."-Publishers Weekly
"Wickens, a former attorney and current trainer, explores the life of the steed at the center of Geraldine Brooks's superb novel Horse [in this] spirited biography of a famed Thoroughbred. Fans of horse racing and American history alike will enjoy this lively...
"Best Racehorse Book Ever. . . a First-Place Blue-Ribbon of a book, full of engrossing, surprising, and sometimes startling detail about how American horse racing got its start . . . a must-have classic for every equestrian's shelf."-Wendy Williams, author of The Horse
"In this meticulously researched and skillfully drawn telling, Kim Wickens brings to vivid life the ‘forgotten horse': Lexington. It defies belief that no book has ever been written on this near-blind Thoroughbred who left such an indelible mark on nineteenth-century horse racing."-Lawrence Scanlan, author of The Horse God Built
"Kim Wickens's deep and indefatigable research provides a knowledge akin to a master's degree. And her compelling writing style renders the acquisition of knowledge a personal pleasure."-Edward L. Bowen, racing journalist and author of The Lucky Thirteen
"If you want to know why horse racing was America's first sport, it's all here. At the center of it is a racehorse named Lexington, an unlikely cornerstone for America's modern Thoroughbred breeding industry."-Joe Drape, author of American Pharoah
"A totally engrossing story of one of the greatest horses that ever lived . . . I loved it."-Nacho Figueras, champion polo player and co-author of High Season
"In this colorful debut biography, equestrian Wickens relates the life and legacy of the eponymous equine, who was foaled near his namesake city in Kentucky in 1850. Lovers of both history and horses will take enjoyment from this thoroughly told tale."-Publishers Weekly
"Wickens, a former attorney and current trainer, explores the life of the steed at the center of Geraldine Brooks's superb novel Horse [in this] spirited biography of a famed Thoroughbred. Fans of horse racing and American history alike will enjoy this lively...
Readers Top Reviews
Annette Johnson
This was a well researched book. Anyone really interested in horse racing history will enjoy it. I was expecting the story to be a bit different. It felt stiff and formal to me. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter 1
Rebirth
Richard Ten Broeck had always been exceptional, though not entirely in the best ways. His path was curved. Always had been. As if, by forging twists and turns into the straightaway, he could create a more complex and grander route than one that was quiet and mundane.
He was easy to spot if you knew to look for the steady stream of smoke rising from his cigar. Otherwise, his appearance was so unremarkable you might well miss him. Instead of neckties popping with color like those worn by most men of the era, Ten Broeck chose the black and understated d'Orsay cravat, always immaculately tied, worn around a stiff upright collar. Aside from his eyes, which were deep blue and impenetrably faraway, the rest of his face was unexceptional, hidden as it was behind a light brown beard that was trimmed to even-sided perfection. Slim, medium in stature, he might have been mistaken for an oversized jockey. He enjoyed the misimpression and in fact occasionally rode his own horses in races. Even then, the cigar never left his mouth.
But beneath the deadpan exterior was a master of wits who could bluff a royal flush while holding nothing but a high card, a risk-taker so self-assured that others thought he must know something they didn't. He usually did. Always five steps ahead, Ten Broeck had already played out every conceivable scenario in his head before he made his next move. And so, when Richard Ten Broeck said he was going to accomplish something, no matter how fantastical it seemed, few among his broad group of acquaintances ever questioned him.
However unassuming his appearance may have been, the Ten Broeck name stood out among the mightiest, having established itself in a patriarchal lineage of military and politics. In 1663, Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam. He became rich exporting animal pelts, and helped found the city of Albany, New York, and its Reformed Dutch Church. Since then, just about every Ten Broeck male had either served in the U.S. Army or at the helm of New York's government. Young Richard Ten Broeck's was a golden path, paved for him by the dedication and hard-earned respectability of generations of forefathers. All he had to do was follow it.
Born in 1812, by age seventeen, Richard-"Dick" to most people-had soared through the prestigious Albany Academy while simultaneously accumulating an unending list of disciplinary infractions and enduring more cracks from his headmaster's cane than a promising boy ought. To enhance Richard's chances for life success, his father secured him a paid position running messages as a page in the New York House of Assembly. It was a spoiled life, unearned and therefore taken for granted-flippantly burning through opportunities as if there were always another and better one around the corner. In Richard's case, there usually was. In 1829, rebellions aside, his academic accomplishments and family name awarded him a coveted cadetship to West Point. But in less than a year, he faced resignation or expulsion after challenging his superintendent, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, to settle their differences in a duel. Richard had only been doing what it had been ingrained in him to do-uphold honor at all costs. Instead of polishing his Derringer, walking ten paces, and firing at the cadet, Colonel Thayer urged the military brass in Washington to expel the upstart.
Back in Albany, Richard's father scurried around the city, elbowing his way into important offices to have a discreet word about his son. His political pull worked, and in January 1830, young Ten Broeck wrote a letter to the secretary of war, John Eaton, tendering his resignation as a cadet "with the consent of my parents," accompanied by a scribbled note of approval from his father "in accordance with the requests of my son."
Although the family's honor remained intact, the West Point debacle sent Ten Broeck out on his own, undoubtedly with a stern order from his father to figure life out for himself. No longer was Richard the golden son. No longer was he one of the "favored children of the nation-the future men of America," as the cadets had been dubbed in 1825 by the then secretary of war, James Barbour.
Tossing aside his wool uniform and packing what was left of his two Academy-issued candles, eighteen-year-old Ten Broeck set out on a faraway path unbridled by regulations and discipline. A new world full of promises and adventure awaited him. He boarded a train headed southwest toward the Mississippi River.
The Mississippi and all it had to offer made sense to wanderers. Snaking th...
Rebirth
Richard Ten Broeck had always been exceptional, though not entirely in the best ways. His path was curved. Always had been. As if, by forging twists and turns into the straightaway, he could create a more complex and grander route than one that was quiet and mundane.
He was easy to spot if you knew to look for the steady stream of smoke rising from his cigar. Otherwise, his appearance was so unremarkable you might well miss him. Instead of neckties popping with color like those worn by most men of the era, Ten Broeck chose the black and understated d'Orsay cravat, always immaculately tied, worn around a stiff upright collar. Aside from his eyes, which were deep blue and impenetrably faraway, the rest of his face was unexceptional, hidden as it was behind a light brown beard that was trimmed to even-sided perfection. Slim, medium in stature, he might have been mistaken for an oversized jockey. He enjoyed the misimpression and in fact occasionally rode his own horses in races. Even then, the cigar never left his mouth.
But beneath the deadpan exterior was a master of wits who could bluff a royal flush while holding nothing but a high card, a risk-taker so self-assured that others thought he must know something they didn't. He usually did. Always five steps ahead, Ten Broeck had already played out every conceivable scenario in his head before he made his next move. And so, when Richard Ten Broeck said he was going to accomplish something, no matter how fantastical it seemed, few among his broad group of acquaintances ever questioned him.
However unassuming his appearance may have been, the Ten Broeck name stood out among the mightiest, having established itself in a patriarchal lineage of military and politics. In 1663, Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam. He became rich exporting animal pelts, and helped found the city of Albany, New York, and its Reformed Dutch Church. Since then, just about every Ten Broeck male had either served in the U.S. Army or at the helm of New York's government. Young Richard Ten Broeck's was a golden path, paved for him by the dedication and hard-earned respectability of generations of forefathers. All he had to do was follow it.
Born in 1812, by age seventeen, Richard-"Dick" to most people-had soared through the prestigious Albany Academy while simultaneously accumulating an unending list of disciplinary infractions and enduring more cracks from his headmaster's cane than a promising boy ought. To enhance Richard's chances for life success, his father secured him a paid position running messages as a page in the New York House of Assembly. It was a spoiled life, unearned and therefore taken for granted-flippantly burning through opportunities as if there were always another and better one around the corner. In Richard's case, there usually was. In 1829, rebellions aside, his academic accomplishments and family name awarded him a coveted cadetship to West Point. But in less than a year, he faced resignation or expulsion after challenging his superintendent, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, to settle their differences in a duel. Richard had only been doing what it had been ingrained in him to do-uphold honor at all costs. Instead of polishing his Derringer, walking ten paces, and firing at the cadet, Colonel Thayer urged the military brass in Washington to expel the upstart.
Back in Albany, Richard's father scurried around the city, elbowing his way into important offices to have a discreet word about his son. His political pull worked, and in January 1830, young Ten Broeck wrote a letter to the secretary of war, John Eaton, tendering his resignation as a cadet "with the consent of my parents," accompanied by a scribbled note of approval from his father "in accordance with the requests of my son."
Although the family's honor remained intact, the West Point debacle sent Ten Broeck out on his own, undoubtedly with a stern order from his father to figure life out for himself. No longer was Richard the golden son. No longer was he one of the "favored children of the nation-the future men of America," as the cadets had been dubbed in 1825 by the then secretary of war, James Barbour.
Tossing aside his wool uniform and packing what was left of his two Academy-issued candles, eighteen-year-old Ten Broeck set out on a faraway path unbridled by regulations and discipline. A new world full of promises and adventure awaited him. He boarded a train headed southwest toward the Mississippi River.
The Mississippi and all it had to offer made sense to wanderers. Snaking th...
